In the Premier League, I cannot play with the same amount of muscle as international football.

That was something that when I came back I knew straight away: ‘Nah, I cannot play in this style like this.’ I had to lose muscle basically.

So you just stay out of the gym, drink a lot of water, and a lot of veg and fish and it helps.

Lukaku also admitted that fatigue brought on by a ceaseless summer of football has also played its part:

After the World Cup, I think I really was a bit tired. But, you know, I had the same thing in 2014 after the World Cup when I came back to Everton, I was really in a slump after the World Cup.

So now I think I am in a decent level again and ready to go again. I knew this. Me and the [United] medical staff, we did like a lot of tests to see what was the problem.

If United entertain any serious hopes of clawing their way back into the top four then they’re going to need their £75million wrecking ball to get his act together. Lukaku scored 27 goals last season but has just six to his name half-way through this one.

Quite why anybody on the Belgium staff thought Lukaku needed to add further muscle mass is a bit of a head-scratcher considering he’s already naturally built like a particularly sturdy external excrement depository of the brick variety.

1Comment

He’s probably the most overrated player at Man United. I remember watching Berbatov at United and I thought ”he’s good but not good enough to start for Man United”. Well, Lukaku is not even half the player Berbatov was…